After two busy months in the world of test prep (check out June and July’s posts), August was pretty calm.

The SAT is Changing?

We here at Testive are very familiar with the SAT changing; it comes up basically every day around here! However, this doesn’t seem to be the case for most parents of college-bound teens. According to a recent survey, only 15% of parents of college-bound children know about the SAT being redesigned. Of course part of this could be attributed to parents being from areas where the ACT is dominant, but that’s still a surprising percentage!

Words from the ACT President

Speaking of the ACT, the president of the company is retiring on September 1. The Washington Post asked him several questions about standardized tests. One piece of advice he gives is that students should relax and know that standardized tests don’t define them. He also comments on George Washington University’s recent decision to go test-optional as well as on the Common Core.

Are Students Getting Dumber?

The private tutoring industry is worth billions. There are a lot of people who believe that this is because students aren’t as smart and that schools are failing us. This article from Forbes has another theory: parents want to give their kids a competitive advantage.

Advice From a Former Cornell Admissions Officer

Nelson Ureña, a former admissions officer at Cornell, recently hosted an Ask me Anything on Reddit. He answered a lot of questions and offered some helpful advice, so if you or your student is applying to college, this could really be worth a read. One piece of advice he gives is to turn your passions into assets. Give admissions officers tangible evidence of your passions. This is especially helpful advice for rising high school juniors going forward!